believe me!

And the woman... I did not forget her, nor did he forget to tell me of her... in company with his two young daughters.

Tchaikovsky went on correspond-ing with Madame von Meck for fourteen whole years without ever meeting her — she, the widow of a German engineer, known for her culture and her wealth. She sustained our artist, encouraged him, and supplied him with money... As for her — he would bow to her at his concerts while she applauded him from afar, without his being

able to tell her apart from the rest of those present. Her letters are still preserved in his house, and most of them have been published. As for the picture of Madame Meck, it looks out at you, and welcomes you, in this house of Tchaikovsky's — this house whose master she so long watched over... She was the very woman one searches for, that she may bring forth one of the immortals!!

'And his wife...?' That was all I uttered of the long, broad question I had been composing within myself.

Tchaikovsky's people laughed at my question, and behold, all three of them pointed me to the picture of a beautiful young woman gliding along the wall...

It is his wife Antonina. He came to know her at the Conservatory in Leningrad and loved her with an artist's love... and an artist's passion, as I imagine it, is importunate, with no patience for balanced reckoning. The love bore fruit in a hurried marriage that lasted exactly a month and a half.

What always matters in surprises of this kind is to know their causes... But I did not ask about those causes! It was as if I knew the ending of this story without its details... for the adventures of infant passion... are all one!!

Do you not know Tchaikovsky's opinion of his wife? He said of her: 'She is the brilliant musician who understands nothing of my melodies!' Poor man — and poor woman!!

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